Some final thoughts on the Morro Bay trip

A short trip, basically 2 and a half days of shooting. Some nice food, a comfortable room, an area I knew fairly well so I didn’t have to spend a lot of time scouting, and a chance to turn off social media, email and everything else and just focus on the camera and start thinking about being a landscape photographer again.

Overall? I’m pretty happy. I came home with 1300 images (including all those stitched panoramas and HDR sets). I ended up with 82 images I considered publishable, 15 I considered well above average and a couple I think are portfolio worthy — although those decisions get reviewed in a few months where I’m likely to make some changes once the emotional high of the creation fades a bit.

If there was one overriding goal, it was to sit back, think and plan, take my time, and work on taking good landscape work and start fresh away from the bad habits I’d let myself get into. Wildlife and bird photography is very much a react to the situation type of work, but landscape work requires me to slow down and be more contemplative, and I’d gotten away from that.

I need to do more of this, build new habits, find my comfort zone. I felt good shooting, but I also noticed that I had to be really careful and think through everything or I’d get sloppy and things wouldn’t go right. I also still need to do a lot more of the travel style work, and start pushing myself back into the intimate landscape where I’ve always struggled. But at least I feel like I’m back at a starting point again and not just lost in the wilderness.

As I move into the winter refuge season where I’m out with the cranes and geese more, taking time to document those areas as a landscape is going to be important for me, and now I feel like I’m ready to take that on. Before this trip, it just scared me to think about trying.

I thought I did some rather nice work, so I wanted to focus on a few images I think are my favorites. Again, this may change a bit after the glow of newness fades, but these are the ones I expect to show off for now…

Sea Otter Mom with her pup, Morro Bay Harbor, California

Morro Bay Harbor at Dawn. Panorama

Morro Bay Harbor Embarcadero, California

Sea Otter Mom with her pup at dawn, Morro Bay Harbor

Morro Bay Harbor Embarcadero, California

Morro Bay Harbor and City Sunset

Morro Bay Harbor and Rock Sunrise Panorama

Sea Otter Mom with her pup, Morro Bay Harbor, California

Sea Otter Mom with her pup, Morro Bay Harbor, California

think I picked the right images?

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